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Tiga applauds UK govt plans to reduce regulatory burden

UK industry group praises the move as an "innovative approach" but calls for more to be done

Tiga has issued a statement supporting the UK government's proposal to introduce regulatory budgets for government departments, but has called for more action to be taken to reduce the burden on companies.

The measure is designed to limit the cost of new regulations on businesses. However, Tiga's CEO Richard Wilson advised caution, warning "the devil will be in the detail".

"The regulatory burden on business has increased considerably in recent years. The Government's proposal to introduce regulatory budgets for government departments is an innovative approach to controlling the problem of costly regulation. John Hutton, the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, is to be congratulated for advancing this idea," commented Wilson.

"As usual, the devil will be in the detail. For regulatory budgets to work the regulatory impact assessments for new regulations must be robust, indirect as well as direct costs should be included... The games development sector would naturally like to see the costs of new employment regulations included in regulatory budgets."

"Ultimately, halting and cutting the burden of regulation is a matter of political will, not budgetary process. The experience of the Government's golden rule illustrates that apparently hard budget rules can be bent. If regulatory budgets are to be effective, ministers must take full responsibility for any breaches in costs that occur. Individual departments and their ministers should be held to full account not just by the Better Regulation Executive and Parliament but also by the Prime Minister. Above all, Ministers must be committed to lightening the regulatory burden on business," added Wilson.